About
In June 2011, we undertook a consultation for South Australia’s Strategic Plan to gain information from the public about how people want to send and receive information during emergencies.
Communicating during emergencies is of absolute importance. It is vital that community members understand the risks confronting them and take appropriate action to protect themselves, family and property.
The emergency services use community emergency information warning systems (CEIWS) to communicate when preparing for, responding to and recovering from emergency incidents.
CEIWS includes print media, websites, radio or television broadcasts. They also include SMS emergency messages and social networking sites suchContinue reading
About
In June 2011, we undertook a consultation for South Australia’s Strategic Plan to gain information from the public about how people want to send and receive information during emergencies.
Communicating during emergencies is of absolute importance. It is vital that community members understand the risks confronting them and take appropriate action to protect themselves, family and property.
The emergency services use community emergency information warning systems (CEIWS) to communicate when preparing for, responding to and recovering from emergency incidents.
CEIWS includes print media, websites, radio or television broadcasts. They also include SMS emergency messages and social networking sites such as Twitter or Facebook.
Consultation results
1,745 respondents completed the survey between 6 and 27 June 2011, providing input into how they see the future of community emergency information and warnings.
The survey told us that in the past 12 months 12.3% of people had been impacted by an emergency incident, with:
- 23.2% impacted by flood
- 28.1% impacted by storm damage
- 30.4% impacted by bushfire
- 5.4% impacted by an earthquake
- 0.9% impacted by house fire
- other incidents included bomb threat, volcanic ash cloud disruption, HAZMAT incident and health related emergencies.
58.2 % of respondents received information about the incident.
Many people commented that they prefer to rely on official information but if that information isn’t accurate, current and specific for their locality they may well head to unofficial sources for information.
A series of graphs detailing the results can be downloaded via this PDF
Some of the interesting comments that were provided included:
- "Unofficial sources of info whilst sometimes more timely are more susceptible to inaccuracy; they often rely on word of mouth which suffers from the "Chinese whispers" syndrome. Sometimes they are based on lay people’s interpretation of information they pick up from emergency services communications or from speaking to friends and family in the emergency services. The lay person's interpretation doesn't always have the full context and their subsequent message may be inaccurate."
- "I’d probably follow advice given by official bodies but I would want to know the bigger and uncensored picture that social media provides (even though I might take it with a grain of salt).""
- "Initial info would probably have been received from unofficial sources, but where possible, I would check with official sources before taking action."
- "Often unofficial sources are more 'agile' and able to get information out faster than official sources."
What will happen with the results?
The results formed part of a larger project currently being conducted within the emergency services and opportunity will be assessed for implementation. While you might not see an immediate change in our systems we are confident that your advice will shape the future of communicating during emergencies in South Australia…watch this space!
For further information please contact: SA Fire and Emergency Services Commission and telephone number: 08 8463 4226.
